Higuain What A GOAL!!

This was such a great goal by the Columbus Crew's Federico Higuain against the New York Red Bulls that I felt it was blog worthy. Federico Higuain is the older brother of ex Real Madrid's now Napoli's striker Gonzalo Higuain. What a quality strike from the Argentine.

Sexy Dancers

Check out these sexy dancers on Instagram!! http://instagram.com/p/bCCEoOo_J9/#
Give it a like if you want.  

MLS Fans Say Thank You NBC Sports.

As a long time MLS fan I would like to say thank you to NBC Sports Channel. Over the years I have watched the league grow and become stable, but through out those years the television coverage of the league hasn't been up to par of the other leagues in America until MLS signed with NBC Sports. Not only is their television coverage of the games are by far better than what MLS has had in the past on other networks. NBC has used their expertise in story telling and television production to produce television shows that tell you about the players, the teams and the communities that MLS touches. These show's will help  the league to grow and hope it to expose it to the casual fan who isn't familiar to MLS or to soccer. A perfect example is their show MLS 36. A weekly show that showcases a player or players 36 hours before a game. In the 36 hours you learn about the players and what the team does to prepare for their game. It is very insightful to see how a typical day is like in a professional athletes life. Below are two full episodes of MLS 36  from the official MLS youtube page http://www.youtube.com/user/mls?feature=watch
The first features Matt Besler and Aurelien Collin of Sporting Kansas City. And the second one features Brad Davis of the Houston Dynamo. They are must see's.

MLS Insider A Must Watch Show!

Just wanted to share this great new series on NBC Sports Channel called MLS Insider by Emmy award winning Jonathan Hock. A series less about the highlights but the people and stories behind the game that make MLS such a compelling league to follow. The first episode aired this past Friday night and consisted of stories about NY Red Bull player Tim Cahill, the Philadelphia Union's supporter group Sons of Ben and former Columbus Crew and current LA Galaxy player Robbie Rogers coming out as the first openly gay athlete in american team sports. A must see show. Below is the full episode.

MLS Insider will air on Friday's at 7:30PM ET/4:30PM PT on the NBC Sports Network and at 2:00PM ET on the TSN networks in Canada.
 Produced by Hock Films , which is headed by Emmy Award-winning filmmaker Jonathan Hock. Hock, who has won eight Emmy Awards and made three critically acclaimed documentaries for ESPN's Films' 30 for 30 series, says that MLS Insider is not going to be your typical weekly sports show.
 "The depth of passion within MLS culture is unlike anything else in America and Canada," he said. "We aim to immerse the viewer in very human stories – the good, the bad, the heroes, the villains – the whole range. Don’t expect a highlight show.”

Here is more from Houk in an interview with MLS.

 

Dancing Kevin!

It all started off with me trying to impress a girl friend at a Columbus Bluejacket's Hockey game.

Now it's grown way out of hand.

And you know the genie is out of the bottle and can't be put back in when you reach Jay Leno, not once but twice. Dancing Kevin on Jay Leno! And you can even get Dancing Kevin T-shirts and other gear. http://www.cafepress.com/dancekevin . If you find this disturbing, join the party. But if you enjoy it and love having fun you can always follow me, Dancing Kevin, on twitter  @kschroeder1720 

Or join me on Facebook at the  Dancing Kevin Fan Page. I'll try to keep it up with new and exciting entertaining things and tell you when I'm out and about. Or even when I do some stand up comedy around town. I hope to see you on my page or twitter feed soon. But until then I will leave you with this little Arty Party.

Tim "The Rock" Raines A Member of the Jerk of Fame.

According to Wikipedia Timothy Raines (born September 16, 1959), nicknamed "Rock", is a former American professional baseball player. He played as a left fielder in Major League Baseball for six teams from 1979 to 2002 and was best known for his 13 seasons with the Montreal Expos. He is regarded as one of the best leadoff hitters and base runners in baseball history. But to this guy he's the jerk that crushed a young boy's dreams. How you ask? Well grab a cold one, a box of Cracker Jacks and sit back and enjoy the story.
      It was a sunny summer day in the early 1980's and my father Virgil decided to treat his three kids to a day in the sun at their favorite place. The old venerable Riverfront Stadium to watch their beloved Cincinnati Reds take on the Montreal Expos. And this day was going to be extra special because he sprung the extra dough for seats in the Blue Seats, which every Reds fan over 25 years old knows were located closest to the field. Little did he know that this special day was going to end in him consoling his only son, me.

    We got to the ballpark early, as was the custom, to take in batting practice.We brought our gloves to try to shag some balls and our pens to try to get some autographs from our heroes. I was especially excited that day because our seats were located in the Blue Seats along the third base line near the visitors dugout. And like I mentioned earlier, the Reds were playing the Montreal Expos. A team that had a bunch of players I respected, like Gary Carter, The Hawk Andre Dawson, and a young lead off batter that was establishing himself as one of the games best in Tim "The Rock" Raines.I could barely contain my excitement when we parked in the garage below the stadium and worked our way up the escalators to the stadium and into the gate. The calls of "Hot Dog's Here," rang through the concourse of the old stadium as we walked to our section. We were fully immersed in the sights and smells that every American knows and associates with that great American Pastime, baseball. It's truly a beautiful thing.
     The usher in charge of our section took the tickets from dad, smiled and said, "your seats are this way." As we followed him down the aisle towards our seats the walls gave way to a great expanse of green shining brilliantly in the midday sun. The sound of the ball cracking off the bat and the loud pop of balls hitting the leather of gloves held by demigods filled my ears. I was in ten year old heaven. We reached our seats and the usher dusted off our seats with a towel then said "There you go, enjoy the game."  My dad gave him a buck, as is the custom and my sisters and father sat down. I looked at my father, and like an unspoken language spoke between father's and son's for a millennium, he smiled and nodded. I turned towards the field and ran down the aisle all the way to the end and took my spot next to the other twenty or so boy's standing there on the third base line with their gloves watching their heroes.
      The Expos were doing their warmups and batting practice. And whenever a player was within earshot of us boy's we would start screaming their names trying to get their attention, and maybe a ball or an autograph. Not much was happening at first, Andre Dawson ignored us. So did Frank Taveras and Warren Cromartie. But then it happened. The Rock himself, Tim Raines came jogging over to all us kids. We were all excited screaming his name. He ran right up to me and said, "Hey kid, you got a pen?" I was dumbfounded but found the words to say," yes I do," and tossed him my pen. He jogged off towards the left field wall with it. I was so excited that Tim Raines even talked to me. But then all the other kids we're pumping me up by saying, "Oh yea, you're going to get an autograph for sure." I was like, "Really you think so?" This was a big deal to me, because at that young age I had never received an autograph, let alone from a superstar of Tim Raines statue. The other kids would say, "Yea you are, he wouldn't borrow your pen without giving you one."  That made perfect sense to me, so I was starting to get excited and was thinking, where in my bedroom was I going to display this monumental piece of baseball history? I was so enamoured by this thought as I stood there staring at Tim Raines  signing balls in left field and tossing them up to some scantily clad ladies. I completely ignored a very young Terry Francona who came by and autographed a bunch of balls for all the kids near me.

   After what seemed like an eternity. Tim Raines finished his last autograph to a blonde girl and tossed it up to her. He turned around and begun running towards me. "This is it kid." Is what the kid standing next to me said. I looked at him with the biggest smile and my heart began to pump so hard I could feel it in my chest. I turned toward the jogging Tim Raines and was thinking. How's he going to sign it? To My Boy Kevin From the Rock Tim Raines? I like that. It would look good next to my Brookville Baseball Championship Trophy.  As he got closer looking right at me, I began to yell "Tim...." Then it happened. He turned his head and tossed the pen at me and kept on going,  the pen hit me in the chest and it dropped to the field. I stood there for a second wondering what just occurred. Then it started to sink in, he borrowed my pen then tried to return it without an autograph not even a "Thank you kid." He used my pen to hit on some ladies who probably couldn't tell you what a double switch is or what the infield fly rule is about. Then with that same pen, he crushed the heart of  young boy who thought he was a superhero.  My smile turned into a frown and tears started to well up in my eyes. I turned and ran to my seat before any of the other kids could see me cry. My dad consoled me the best way he could with ice cream in a mini helmet and rubs on the head and I was smiling by the end of the game, the Reds won. But I left Riverfront Stadium that day a little more jaded and a whole lot less starstruck.

A Hollow in Dayton, Ohio.

As you all know I grew up in the Dayton, Ohio area. And am proud to call the region my hometown. The hardworking no thrills/gritty town made me the person I am today. And the many entertaining stories I have of this place could fill a blog. Thank goodness I have a blog to share them in. Here is one such story.

        When I was going to college back in the early nineties I would come home for the summers and occupy my time with, what many college kids do, a summer job. My summer job was bit cooler than most kids my age. I was hired, for a couple of summers in fact, by the Montgomery County Animal Shelter as a dog license compliance officer. What is this you ask? Well, the job entails a couple two men or women teams going to different neighborhoods throughout the county and Dayton in the late afternoons and canvassing neighborhoods. We would knock on peoples doors, ask if they had a dog, and if it was licensed. If not we would issue citations. Now, I know that sounds like a jerk thing to do, but it really was for the good of the animals. If a dog is licensed and got lost or escaped we could locate the owners quickly and return their beloved pet. If, heaven forbid, your dog got lost and hit by a car or injured, a licensed pet would get emergency vet care while an unlicensed dog would not. And if your dog got lost while, let's say you're on vacation or working out of town a licensed pet would get to stay at the shelter with no fear of being euthanized until the shelter contacted you. Plus it's the law. But at the end of the day it's for the furry faces after all.

 

       When I tell people about this job they always ask, "Weren't you afraid of the dogs attacking you?"  It's not the dogs that was doing the attacking. Case in point. 

         One day my partner and I were canvassing on the east side of Dayton off of Stanley Avenue. We always affectionately called this part of Dayton little Kentucky due to it's history. Back in the middle part of the twentieth century the city of Dayton's manufacturing sector was exploding and there were to many jobs and not enough people to fill them. Companies would go down to Appalachia in  south east Ohio, Kentucky, West Virginia and Tennessee to recruit people to work in the factories. Many of them settled in the eastern part of the city. This influx of people has left a profound mark on Dayton that can still be felt today. But let's get back to that day we were canvassing off Stanley Avenue.

          It was a nice Saturday afternoon and we were enjoying our uneventful day. We befriended a group of young boys that followed us around as we canvassed the neighborhood. It's always good to do this because kids will tell you everything that's going on in the neighborhood and the information could be invaluable, like which houses were crack houses, so that way we could avoid those houses all together. We had been canvassing awhile when I  walked up to a property that I noticed a large amount of dogs (10 to be exact) pacing back and forth by the fence. I could already tell none of these canines had licenses displayed. I stopped at the gate and saw a guy working on his truck by the house. I called to him to please approach so I didn't have to open the gate releasing the dogs into the street. He came over to the fence we started off with some pleasantries. Asked how he was, how his day was going. Seemed like a nice gentleman.  Then I got to the reason of my visit. I explained I was with the Montgomery County Animal Shelter and we were canvassing the neighborhoods checking for compliance of the dog licensing laws and why they are important. He was smiling through all this until I asked about his dogs, and if they were licensed? He said no. I apologized to him but told him I was going to have to issue him a citation and requested his drivers license. He looked a little shocked, and I don't blame him to be honest. I told him I was technically suppose to write him a ticket for each dog, but because he was being cooperative and I didn't want to burden him with more financial strain because each ticket could run from $55 to $85,  I was only going to write him one ticket as long as he got all the dogs licensed. After all that's the most important thing isn't it? He got quite and looked at me, chewing his tobacco and spitting with folded arms. As I was writing his ticket I could see the gears turning in his head as he began to think what was going on here. I started to write faster knowing the sooner I'm done the more likelihood an incident could be avoided with minimum damage to both parties. But right as soon as I was to rip the copy, explain the ticket and hand it to him he looked me in the eye and points a finger and says  in that slow deliberate appalachian twang. "You know, if you were in a hollow in Kentucky you wouldn't be walking out of here alive."  I looked right back at him squarely in the eye and said firmly, "Well, I'm not in a hollow in Kentucky and you have ten dogs, so now you're getting ten citations."  The color left his face as I began to start writing him his ten citations he earned. Lesson of the day, Sometimes being a redneck can be expensive, if you let it get in the way of your judgement.